Birding and other distractions

When I arrived at Dungeness this morning it was raining hard so my plan to start with a seawatch wasn't going to happen. Instead I went to the RSPB reserve making use of the hides/lookout there. The terns that had been present on recent visits were now absent, and waders were limited to Dunlin and Ringed Plover. F ortunately, the rain stopped whilst there. I drove round to park near the old lighthouse and was surprised to see a couple of what seemed to be semi-tame foxes close to the cars. Someone put down a plate of food for them and they were joined by two more foxes. The foxes seemed to be young animals probably born this year, all very approachable and no doubt accustomed to being fed in view of their behaviour! I was the only person at the seawatch hide, though I think others were viewing from the fishing boats. There was a big movement of terns flying west after the rain, numbers difficult to estimate though certainly in the hundreds. They were accompanied by several Arctic S...

A short visit to coincide with the rising tide at Bloors. It was a sunny morning with little wind. There were plenty of ducks on the river including good numbers of Wigeon and approx 20 Pintail. As expected Redshank was the most numerous wader amongst which was a single Spotted Redshank, probably a juvenile. Two Knot and several Bar-tailed Godwit were also present together with more numerous Black-tailed Godwit. A Kingfisher flew in and landed on the vertical wall of the wharf, just visible if I craned my head over the railings. Two Grey Wagtail flew over. Spotted Redshank  Black-tailed Godwit 

Two visits to Dungeness in a week is unusual for me, prior to that I hadn't been since the spring. This visit was prompted by the weather forecast showing that a belt of rain was moving up through Kent, clearing the south coast early in the morning. There was the potential to ground some migrants I thought. It was raining hard when I left home but on reaching Dungeness the rain had stopped and the sun was out. We decided to start at the Observatory and checked out the moat. Several Willow Warblers and Whitethroats were seen, also a Reed Warbler. The Obs had caught some interesting moths though they weren't ringing any birds. We went to the Hanson Hide to look for waders though they were few and far between. Two Garganey showed very close to the hide and neither appeared to be the bird seen on Saturday. Fortunately the RSPB reserve had a good collection of waders viewed from the Firth Lookout. Good numbers of Dunlin and Ruff were present, also three Curlew Sandpipers and two Lit...

A sunny day though with a brisk easterly wind. I began with a seawatch from just below the car park. It was very quiet with barely any gulls let alone skuas. The bushes were also disappointingly quiet and hard work just to find a Blackcap. I was on the point of leaving when a large Buddleia caught my eye as it was still in flower so I checked it out. It had a lovely array of butterflies which included four Painted Ladies, three Peacock and a Red Admiral. Also present on the Buddleia were two Hummingbird Hawkmoths and a Hornet Hoverfly. The moths were incredibly active during the time I was there, and it was challenging to photograph them. In the end I managed to freeze the action of the wings in photos by using the same settings as for birds in flight except increasing the shutter speed to 1/4000. Painted Lady  Underwing of Painted Lady  Peacock  Red Admiral  Hummingbird Hawkmoth  Hornet Hoverfly 

A mostly sunny day though with a cool northerly breeze. We spent much of the day on the RSPB reserve which had a nice assembly of terns from the Firth Lookout. Best was a juvenile White-winged Tern, with a couple of juv Black Terns also present. It took a while to get my eye in when identifying these in flight as the WW Tern had a relatively pale saddle, however these birds have a jizz similar to that of a Little Gull I've always thought. Speaking of Little Gulls we later saw a winter plumage individual from the 'Makepeace' hide. A couple of Little Stint and a Ruff were also seen from the Firth Lookout. After that Dave Bunney kindly let us view some birds in his garden including a female type Common Redstart, a Pied Flycatcher, and a couple of Willow Warblers. Several Hummingbird Hawkmoths were also present with a Clouded Yellow fly by. The final stop was to the ARC pit, admiring four Painted Ladies, plus a Red Admiral and Peacock before reaching the Hanson hide. Both Wood ...